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The effect of masks on infants’ ability to fast-map and generalize new words

Published online by Cambridge University Press:  08 January 2024

Siying LIU Open the ORCID record for Siying LIU [Opens in a new window] ,
Xun LI  and
Renji SUN
Siying LIU*
Affiliation:
Institute of Linguistics, Shanghai International Studies University, Shanghai, China
Xun LI
Affiliation:
Institute of Linguistics, Shanghai International Studies University, Shanghai, China
Renji SUN
Affiliation:
East China University of Political Science and Law, China
*
Corresponding author: Siying Liu; Email: 2019616@shisu.edu.cn
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Abstract

Young children today are exposed to masks on a regular basis. However, there is limited empirical evidence on how masks may affect word learning. The study explored the effect of masks on infants’ abilities to fast-map and generalize new words. Seventy-two Chinese infants (43 males, Mage = 18.26 months) were taught two novel word-object pairs by a speaker with or without a mask. They then heard the words and had to visually identify the correct objects and also generalize words to a different speaker and objects from the same category. Eye-tracking results indicate that infants looked longer at the target regardless of whether a speaker wore a mask. They also looked longer at the speaker’s eyes than at the mouth only when words were taught through a mask. Thus, fast-mapping and generalization occur in both masked and not masked conditions as infants can flexibly access different visual cues during word-learning.

Keywords

infantsword learningfast-mappinggeneralizationvisual cuesmasks
Type
Article
Information
Journal of Child Language , Volume 51 , Issue 3 , May 2024 , pp. 637 - 655
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© The Author(s), 2024. Published by Cambridge University Press

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